In May 2006, I launched Seanachie Nights (Seanachie is the Celtic word for storyteller): a monthly series of musical storytelling performances from Celtic and British culture that introduces the old stories - with all their comedy, tragedy, and adventure - to an adult audience.

Seanachie Nights is usually held on every third Monday of the month. Admission: Free ($9 suggested donation). Email Lynne Cullen at thetwacorbies@yahoo.com or call 207-253-0288 for further details.

Monday, December 19, 7-9 PM

Bull Feeney's Irish Pub/Restaurant, 375 Fore Street, Portland, Maine

Solstice Revels!

This show will feature a celebration of the Yuletide Season with storyteller Sebastian Lockwood reading 'A Child's Christmas in Wales' by Dylan Thomas and 'A Christmas Story' by Truman Capote. Lynne Cullen will tell unusual Christmas stories with concertina accompaniment, and fiddler/raconteuse Janet Lynch will perform seasonal poems and songs.

Sebastian Lockwood is a professional storyteller who teaches Storytelling and Anthropology as a full time faculty member at NHIA. You can see more about Sebastian's work at www.lumenarts.com.

Janet Lynch is a company member of AIRE (American Irish Repertory Ensemble), where she has performed in works by Brian Friel, Martin McDonagh and J.M. Synge. Janet is currently developing a one-woman musical show about Molly Bloom from James Joyce's Ulysses.

Monday, January 16, 7-9 PM

Bull Feeney's Irish Pub/Restaurant, 375 Fore Street, Portland, Maine

A 'heard' of MOOSE!

An evening of traditional stories and songs from the Celtic/British tradition, performed by the colorful and talented tellers from MOOSE (Maine Organization of Storytelling Enthusiasts) and Seanachie Nights Regulars and fellow MOOSE performers Lynne Cullen and Janet Lynch!

MOOSE was created in 1999 when a group of seven storytellers met on a friend's porch in Cape Elizabeth to discuss the need for building a storytelling community in the Portland area. A number of ideas were generated, and MOOSE started with a weekly storytelling swap at Java Joe's that later turned into a monthly open mic on Mayo Street with a featured performer. Following a sojourn at the late, lamented North Star Café, MOOSE now meets on the second Wednesday of each month for a story swap and feature at the Portland Public Library.

For more information about MOOSE, please visit http://moosetellers.ning.com and www.facebook.com/MooseTellers

Monday, February 20, 7-9 PM

Bull Feeney's Irish Pub/Restaurant, 375 Fore Street, Portland, Maine

A celebration of 'Grimm's Fairy Tales'

Katy Rydell and friends celebrate the 250th anniversary of the publication of the first Grimm's Fairy Tales. Don't miss our commemoration of this seminal storytelling event!

After earning a Master's Degree in Folklore from UCLA, Katy spent five years at California State University, Los Angeles, teaching teachers how to use storytelling in the classroom. She has taught storytelling classes at many colleges and universities, given workshops at festivals, and led in-service workshops for teachers and librarians.

For fifteen years, Katy edited and published the journal, Stories. She wrote the classic bedtime story, Wind Says Good Night (published by Houghton Mifflin) and contributed to and edited the National Storytelling Network's introductory booklet, A Beginner's Guide to Storytelling. Her poetry has been featured at the World Stage in Los Angeles, and with Ross Altman she created a CD of songs and stories, Two for the Road.

For more information about Katy Rydell, please visit www.katyrydell.com

Monday, March 19, 7-9 PM

Bull Feeney's Irish Pub/Restaurant, 375 Fore Street, Portland, Maine

Marion Leeper tells 'The Kitchen Cat'

"She couldn't remember who she was, but she knew that once she had been someone important…"

Marion Leeper, a visiting storyteller from Cambridge, England, will tell the The Kitchen Cat. Scraps of memory, legend, and black lace are woven together to tell one woman's rags to riches story. La Gata Borralheira - the Kitchen Cat - will take you on a romp through the folktales and cocktail dresses of 1950s Europe. Marion's mix of traditional tales and family history is funny, moving, grotesque and tragic by turns. Audiences said:

"You'd got us in the hollow of your hand - We were spellbound!"

"A complex piece - a moving way to honour the past."

Marion will also tell 'There was an old woman who lived in a fen...' - rich earthy stories, full of fen clay, murky creatures of the marsh, and the wisdom and cussedness of the old woman. Marion tells the stories of her native East Anglia and beyond.

Marion grew up in a family of actors, raconteurs, tellers of tall tales and downright liars. She has been listening to and telling stories for longer than she can remember and has performed in libraries, museums, schools, festivals, dungeons and garden centers throughout Britain. Marion tells to all ages, from 2 to 102. Besides her solo shows, she performs with Cambridge Storytellers, whose club she chairs, organizing storytelling events and guest performances. Marion has studied with leading storytellers in the UK and at Emerson Steiner College. Her inspiration comes from near and far - stories rooted in her own background and the folktales of her place, as well as myths and legends from around the world: the heroes of the Shahnameh, the antics of the stone monkey from China, the raucous medieval humor of Chaucer and Straparola.

For more information about Marion Leeper, please visit www.marionleeper.co.uk

Marion Leeper will also perform at MOOSE:

Wednesday, March 14, 7-9 PM
Portland Public Library, Portland, Maine

Open mic from 7-8 PM, featured teller from 8-9 PM

Lynne Cullen, acting host of MOOSE, will present Marion Leeper in: 'The Day the Bomb Fell' and other stories from Cambridge, England. Find out about a time when you could play hopscotch in the streets, when washing was done in a brass copper, when a train ran into Hills Road, and much more! Marion recreates a picture of an English University city in wartime, as told to her by men and women who lived through war, peace and more changes than most of us can imagine.

This piece was developed from a project supported by a Grassroots Grant from the Cambridge Community Foundation.

Monday, April 16, 7-9 PM

Bull Feeney's Irish Pub/Restaurant, 375 Fore Street, Portland, Maine

4 Shillings Short

The world-traveling, Celtic/Folk/World musical husband/wife duo Four Shillings Short return to Maine. Their 2011-12 tour will take the forever-traveling bards from California to Maine and from Florida to the Dakotas. Described recently as 'One of the most unique, eclectic and fascinating acts out there' by the New Times (San Luis Obispo, CA), they are a musical experience not to be missed!

Four Shillings Short play traditional & original music from Ireland and Scotland, Indian Ragas, Folk Ballads, Old-Time songs, Medieval & Renaissance instrumentals and a cappella numbers on a fantastic array of instruments (over 30) including: hammered dulcimer, mandolin, mandola, bouzouki, tin whistles, recorders, Medieval and Renaissance woodwinds, North Indian sitar, charango, bowed psaltery, banjo, bodhran, guitar, percussion, vocals and even a krumhorn!

Aodh Og O'Tuama from Cork, Ireland, and Christy Martin from California, tour in the US and Ireland and live as the Troubadours of old, traveling from town to town performing at Celtic and Folk festivals, theatres & performing arts centers, coffeehouses, folk societies, libraries and schools and staying with friends or camping along the way. The prolific duo is also working on a full studio album with cello, uilleann and galician Pipes, fiddle, guitar and bass accompaniment and three-part harmonies, which is due to be released in Summer 2011.

For more information about Four Shillings Short, please visit www.fourshillingsshort.com

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